Welcome Home
by That's LEON
Summary: Slowly, he reaches out, breath stilling at the touch of warmth against his chilled knuckles as he trails them along the brunet's jaw line. Post-KH1, Cleon.


**Welcome Home  
**_Toothpaste Addict_

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**Hey, uhm. I'm on semi-hiatus due to school, but I'll try to keep uploading drabbles periodically.**

**EDIT - just kidding, drabbles go on devART. A'durr.  
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The first thing he realizes as he comes to, lying in a sprawl across the pavement, is that he's _alive_.

His next thought is that it's late; he can feel dusk settling over Traverse Town as twilight fades into darkness beyond his lowered eyelids. The ground is cold against his back, refreshing against the extensive scabbing that marks what was once the location of a wing. His right hand is clasped loosely around the hilt of his sword, left arm mangled at his side, when he hears it: the dull thud of boots against the ground that resonates through the pavement, flickers under the surface and straight into his skull. The footsteps stop, and he hears the creak of leather as someone crouches next to him.

And then: "Cloud?"

"Leon," he acknowledges, voice hoarse, lips quirking into the smallest of smiles. He doesn't so much as open his eyes, doesn't so much as move. "How long was I gone?"

"Three months," the older man replies. "Are you...?"

He cracks his eyes open, feels the sting of upperworld air that's so cold and sharp compared to the heavy mugginess of the darkness. "I'm fine." He takes the hand as it's offered, a firm grip encased in leather that promises that he's home, and lets the other man pull him into a sitting position. "Are the others here?"

"In Hollow Bastion," Leon corrects, and averts his eyes a little too quickly, anticipating the blond's next question.

"...Then what are you doing here?"

"Nothing," he says--lies--defensively. His scowl lessens, and he amends, "I had things to take care of."

Cloud thinks, considers calling the brunet out for what's obviously going on here. But after a long pause, he says only: "Oh." The older man's gaze wanders back and meets his own, a guilty but relieved glimmer of hope visible behind the wall of colorless gray, and his lips quirk in an inquiring smirk. _You waited for me?_

And Leon allows him a small smile in return. _Of course._

Cloud hesitates at that, a little disarmed, a little vulnerable, a little in love with and a little frightened by how the brunet turns everything around for him with that gesture. Knowing that Leon waited for him here, for three whole months--knowing the brunet's faith in his return, when he himself hadn't been sure if he'd come back alive--puts the whole ordeal that much further behind him.

Slowly, he reaches out, breath stilling at the touch of warmth against his chilled knuckles as he trails them along the brunet's jaw line. The walls go down, and he watches the icy gray of Leon's eyes soften with tentative but genuine affection, his mako-enhanced vision catching all the subtleties of the older man's expression as easily as if it was light.

Leon cradles the side of the other's neck with a leather-clad hand as their lips meet hesitantly in a kiss that is anything but. Cloud's expression of surrender when he initiated contact, or his own as he accepted it, might imply that this is a gesture of defeat, but it isn't. It's a gesture of relief, as betrayed by the sigh of shared breath between them as they allow themselves the small comfort of knowing that their personal darkness is at bay for now.

Cloud knows that someday, probably someday soon, it'll be back. He knows--although he ignores the fact, as he tangles his fingers in Leon's lengthening hair and revels in the familiar warmth of his mouth--that this hasn't been his last trip to the underworld by any means. But for now, he's safe. They're safe. For now--even if it's just for _right now_, as he sits on the chilled pavement and tugs the older man closer with his good hand--he's home, and he can pretend that it's forever.

And for now, that's good enough.

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**A/N:** BTW, Petrice and Skittlez, don't forget to tell me what you want for your bdays. -snugs you guys-

Also Axurel: remember how you introduced me to Jumpstyle a while back? 'KAY WELL LIEK. I started jumping irl a few days ago and I'm fucking addicted to it now G.G I'M FUCKING LIKE, JUMPING AS I TYPE THIS. 8C


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